Saturday, July 03, 2004

in 1754, the Mlosh arbitrated a dispute between the British and French colonials in the Ohio Valley, forgoing the need for armed conflict. This lay the groundwork for their unification of much of the continent in the latter part of the century.

in 4561, in perhaps the most shocking event of the siege of Hanoi, a mixed unit of Chinese and Siamese soldiers captures a group of women and children as they are attempting to flee the city. They are all slaughtered, even the babies; no actual numbers were kept, but the estimates range as high as 300 children and 100 women. When news of the massacre reached them, General Zuo and Lord Vo declared a one-day truce on the following day to allow the bodies to be recovered and burned, and any remaining non-combatants to evacuate the city.

in 1874, Thomas Edison himself makes a house call on the Eddie running operations for the White House. The Eddie has been acting strangely, sometimes activating on its own, printing erroneous results, and making strange noises. Edison takes it apart to discover a colony of ants has made their home inside. Once the colony had been evicted, the Eddie worked fine. From that day on, strange anomalies with Eddies were called “ants”.

in 1939, Lou Gehrig, suffering from amyotropic lateral sclerosis, plays his last game of Town Ball for the New York Metros. As the fans pound out a heart-felt ovation for him, he announces to the crowd, “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

in 1942, Emmy-winning actor Kurtwood Smith was born in Wisconsin. Smith’s career consisted mainly of playing hard-nosed, villainous types before he landed the role of President Bartlet on the hit series The West Wing. Smith’s masterful portrayal of the literate, liberal president wowed audiences across the country, and he won three Emmys in a row for Best Actor in a Drama.

in 1947, rancher Mac Brazel finds wreckage strewn across his property in Roswell, New Mexico. Several pieces are covered with a strange writing that he’s never seen before. Also, there are a couple of charred and torn bodies in the main part of the wreckage. It scares him, and he decides not to say anything about it until after the 4th of July weekend is over.

in 1971, Jim Morrison of the rock group The Doors was found in his hotel room room in Paris, apparently attempting to overdose on heroin. Genevieve Lefevre, the young chambermaid who found him, got him to a hospital and stayed by his side while he was recovering. Morrison became so enamored of her that he broke up with his longtime girlfriend, Pamela Courson, and married Ms. Lefevre in 1972.

in 2003, U.N. interpreters get a message from the Martians in the Arctic that they are ready to speak with Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Annan, reluctantly, agrees to meet with the Martian negotiators in Greenland.

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